Outside rotation during residency?

[RxBoy]

Currently a CA2... I was wondering granted my program allows it (been done in the past for some residents who wanted more transplant experience)... Is it difficult to get an outside month rotation in another academic institution? Or is it even possible?

I ask because I would love to do a month cardiac/TEE/some type of CT rotation at a program I am considering doing a fellowship. Before I go off shooting emails, does anyone think this is a good idea?

I don't know what type of hoops one would have to jump to do this (aside from obtaining a residency license if outside my state). It would be nice to have a little change of atmosphere as well as get a good perspective of the program. The whole hospital tour, meeting with PD/select residents is a pretty weak angle of getting a real feel for the program.

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[epidural man]

I think outside rotations are VERY valuable. I was able/forced to rotate at 5 different hospitals during my residency. (Peds, Hearts, ICU, Burns and Trauma, OB). Every hospital taught me valuable info about how people do things different - and how laughable dogma permeates each institution. The private hospitals were the best learning environments I thought - where I learned that academics seem to miss the boat lots of times (many SDN discussion about that....)

However, most programs don't allow much of it because it takes you away from their work force. You think you are there to learn, but you are there to get the work done under the guise of education. It sucks, but is true.

Good luck if you can swing it.

 

[RussianJoo]

are the programs who are recieving this outside rotator more receptive of accepting outside residents? I am pretty sure my program would let me go for a month as long as I did very well clinically and academically and losing a month wouldn't hinder my ability to pass the boards. We have plenty of residents to cover the rooms.

How do you apply for a medical license in a new state when you're not doing a residency there? I guess you need sponsorship by the program where you'll rotate? seems kind of silly to go through all the stuff I've gone through to get my current license, just to get a license to do a month rotation. Now if there was reciprocity, you just needed to send a copy of your current medical license to get a temporary license, but then there's hospital training, and medical clearance.

Somehow, I don't think doing an outside rotation as a resident is possible. You can rotate at multiple hospitals if they're all affiliated with your residency program or the hospitals are in the same hospital system. I rotate through 6 hospitals during my residency, it used to be 7.

 

[pgg]

Short answer, yes, and I'm with epidural man - very valuable. Even if you're leaving to do stuff that your home institution does, it is very useful to see how things are done elsewhere.

Long answer, it is a HUGE amount of work and effort for your program director to set up such a rotation, if it hasn't been done at that institution before. Once the groundwork is done, the memorandum of understanding done, all the gory details (to include liability insurance) worked out, then subsequent resident rotations are easier to set up. But don't underestimate the amount of time it takes to get it all done the first time. Middle of my CA2 year, my PD started working on getting me a couple months of subspecialty time at a new hospital ... it came down to the wire, but March of my CA3 year I was on the road, and it was worth my time.

 

[pgg]

How do you apply for a medical license in a new state when you're not doing a residency there? I guess you need sponsorship by the program where you'll rotate? seems kind of silly to go through all the stuff I've gone through to get my current license, just to get a license to do a month rotation. Now if there was reciprocity, you just needed to send a copy of your current medical license to get a temporary license, but then there's hospital training, and medical clearance.

It is a colossal bitch.

The license issue almost sunk me, because the Massachusetts medical board took months to get it through their collectively thick skulls (despite us filling out all the forms correctly ... twice) that my home institution was in another state, and that the hosting institution in-state really was where I was going to work.